Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I was pleasantly surprised by this satisfying little thriller by a fairly new author, Mark Arsenault. I was also surprised at how much I liked the main character, Billy Povich, despite his apparent flaws such as a gambling problem, which he only references in this book. I did not read the first Povich novel, Gravewriter, but I had no trouble following this story of the murder of a judge who is a friend of Billy's. Billy suspects that the cops are on the wrong trail to find the killer, so he decides to investigate "a bit" for himself. He then inadvertently uncovers the judge's hidden life and puts himself in danger in order to find the truth. All-in-all a very entertaining, page-turning detective story. Let me know what YOU think!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

This was a wonderful, well-written book that explored not only the training world of world class swimming, but the dysfunctional lives of regular people with extraordinary talents and circumstances. Philomena, the main character, must struggle with her thirteen-year-old sister's cancer and the way her parents handle this impossible situation. The stress level becomes so high, that Philomena soon learns to seek another way to get the attention and respect she deserves in life - swimming. Although her obsession with swimming serves her well and makes her feel more in control of life, what happens when the winning is over and she must return to the real life of a "normal" human being? Read it to find out!

What's up next for the Valley Book Club?

You can see our reading list at the Elgin Public Library's website at: http://www.elgin.lib.ia.us/ and click on the Valley Book Club tab. All of the books are available now in the library for check-out.